SOCIAL ADVOCATES

Since 1989, Elijah’s Promise has used food as a tool to alleviate hunger, empower lives and invite justice for the most vulnerable members of our Central New Jersey community. We operate a community soup kitchen, culinary arts school, catering business, pay-as-you-can café, and connect low-income individuals and families with social and health services. With the support of volunteers, donors and community partners, we serve more than 100,000 meals per year and train previously unskilled workers for careers in the food service industry.

New Brunswick Tomorrow is a non-profit organization dedicated to enriching the lives of New Brunswick’s people.

We do this by fostering public and private networks of institutions and community organizations. The initiatives that emerge help promote self-sufficiency and personal dignity in our citizens. New Brunswick Tomorrow identifies critical community needs and responds to those needs. We serve as a catalyst in developing and supporting solutions that improve the quality of life in our community. We work with our partners in the city’s public/private revitalization, assuring that health, human service and social issues are addressed that complement the physical and cultural revival of New Brunswick. Join us in improving the quality of life for all our people.

The mission of The Pride Center of New Jersey is to provide comprehensive programming which fosters the health and well-being of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersexed and questioning (LGBTIQ) community, and to increase public acceptance and champion social change for the LGBTIQ community through education and outreach.

OUR VISION

The Pride Center envisions a world where members of the LGBTIQ community are empowered as individuals, as citizens and as members of the larger community, enjoying non-prejudicial treatment under the law and in every aspect of their lives. We will encourage the creation of a society that celebrates the inherent worth, dignity and diverse characteristics of every individual.

We will be a leader in New Jersey for the collaboration of LGBTIQ and allied groups, the media, and policy makers; a resource and service center for all persons and organizations who share our vision; and a place of safety and education.

New Jersey’s newest watershed association, the Lower Raritan Watershed Partnership (LRWP) was formed in 2014 to address industrial pollutants that left a legacy of contamination in the Raritan River and the Lower Raritan Watershed. Although dumping is much ameliorated, current contamination levels in many stream segments are unknown, and no comprehensive assessment of water quality for the LRW has been performed since the 1970s. Ongoing threats to the watershed include combined sewers, an average of 34% impervious surfaces, and significant non-point pollution.

The Institute’s mission is to empower urban residents to realize and achieve their full potential. Established in 1999 by Alan V. and Amy Lowenstein, the Institute’s dynamic and independent advocacy is aimed at toppling load-bearing walls of structural inequality to create just, vibrant, and healthy urban communities. We employ a broad range of advocacy tools to advance our ambitious urban agenda, including research, analysis and writing, public education, grassroots organizing, communications, the development of pilot programs, legislative strategies, and litigation.

Using a holistic approach to addressing the unique and critical issues facing New Jersey’s urban communities, the Institute advocates for systematic reform that is at once transformative, achievable in the state, and replicable in communities across the nation.

We're working to create a world where people have the information and opportunities they need to tell their own stories, hold leaders accountable, and participate in our democracy. We fight to save the free and open internet, curb runaway media consolidation, protect press freedom, and ensure diverse voices are represented in our media.

We believe that change happens when people have a real voice in the political process. To that end, we mobilize our growing base of 900,000 activists to sign petitions, meet with their elected officials, attend rallies and town-hall meetings, write letters to the editor, and take part in other targeted actions. We also craft policy proposals, conduct research, testify before Congress and argue in court for policies that serve the public interest.

The companies trying to kill Net Neutrality, crush competition and build media monopolies have way more money than we do. But we have two powerful things on our side: people ... and a plan.

Free Press is completely independent: We don't take a single cent from business, government or political parties and rely on the generosity of individual donors and charitable foundations to fuel our work.

Churches Improving Communities’ mission is to help the 29 churches within the New Brunswick Classis of the Reformed Church in America meet the social, educational and economic needs of their communities through the development and expansion ofjustice and mercy service projects. We do this by pooling skills and expertise to leverage funding, staff, volunteers, and community support.

Churches Improving Communities (CIC) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit community development corporation, and its programs are non-discriminatory and open to the public.

Churches Improving Communities staffs and operates three programs through the involvement of member churches and the community: NeighborCorps Re-Entry Services, mentoring and assisting individuals as the return to their communities from Middlesex County Jail; CALTR, reconstructing Hurricane Sandy-damaged homes at the Jersey shore; and Church-Based Mental Health Services, providing low-cost, professional mental health counseling in counties throughout central NJ.

New Brunswick Cultural Center’s mission is to stimulate the cultural development and economic growth of arts and entertainment in New Brunswick through the enhancement, preservation, maintenance and effective administration of existing and future venues that service the primary constituent base of the New Brunswick Cultural Center. And, by nurturing emerging and viable arts, educational and entertainment organizations that reach the diverse communities of New Brunswick, New Brunswick Cultural Center and its Arts Partners thrive to establish New Brunswick as the premier arts and entertainment destination in the region.

Town Clock CDC provides permanent, supportive and affordable homes to survivors of domestic violence and their children.

Dina’s Dwellings is the Town Clock CDC’s main endeavor, a project which will reconfigure the sanctuary of the First Reformed Church to provide 10 units of affordable housing for victims of domestic violence.

The Town Clock is located in the steeple of the First Reformed Church of New Brunswick. The steeple was begun in 1827 and completed in 1839. In 1828, the “town” of New Brunswick paid $500 to install a clock in the steeple. The Town Clock continues to be owned and operated by the city of New Brunswick, recently being converted to a digital clock to adjust to time changes automatically.

The Town Clock CDC used the Town Clock as inspiration for its name. Though contained within a house of worship, the Town Clock is owned by the community, the City of New Brunswick. The Town Clock CDC wishes to allow for more of the building space of the First Reformed Church to serve a community purpose.

Our Mission is to Support Families Facing Autism.

We do this through education, marriage counseling, and advocacy as they navigate through the complex challenges associated with the journey of autism from diagnoses to recovery or a better quality of life. MyGOAL Autism is a 501 c(3) non-profit organization with a vision to restore lives and families affected by Autism through Education and Empowerment.

MyGOAL Inc® is a gateway to information regarding:

Prevention

Treatment(s)

Advocacy

Support Services for families

Enabling Families to have a Sound and Solid Life.

The foundation for the recovery of individuals affected by autism is a solid family. It is based on the principle that the family unit has to sustain through the journey for recovery from Autism. MyGOAL Inc will support and promote family focused education, counseling, and advocacy.

The incidence of divorce among families with special needs children is significantly higher than in other populations due to the impact of stress in the family. MyGOAL Inc® provides the resources and tools for families caring for individuals with autism. We believe when we RESTORE a CHILD with Autism, we RESTORE the FAMILY. Our focus is to reach out everyone especially those with lower socioeconomic means or in underserved areas.

We're fighting to stop dirty energy projects and the corporate takeover of public services.

Even though fracking is not happening in New Jersey, the impacts of drilling in neighboring Pennsylvania are being felt here. There are plans to build fracked gas pipelines in the Pinelands Reserve, fracked oil pipelines through the Highlands in North Jersey, and countless more dirty energy proposals through the state.

Our water, public health and safety are under attack by the unchecked greed of the fossil fuel industry. We must build a movement to stop them.

On top of all that, corporate interests are aggressively working to take over critical public services and essential resources like clean affordable drinking water, while multilateral trade agreements threaten public health and worker rights.

That's what we're up against. But these are the kinds of fights we know how to win, and with your help we can do just that.

We have successfully passed bans on fracking waste dumping in dozens of municipalities and counties. We are resisting oil and gas pipelines where and when they are proposed. And we have defeated water privatization schemes throughout the state. Our work is part of a broader movement to get money out of politics, and build a real democracy that represents all people.

This isn't just about winning campaigns to stop dirty energy. We are catalyzing a just transition to a clean, renewable energy economy, one that provides good paying jobs and lasting economic development in our communities. We have an opportunity to turn the political tides and reclaim our right to a healthy, just and prosperous future.

We are dedicated to providing literacy instruction for adults enabling them to attain personal, educational, and career goals.

LVA believes that, regardless of ability, each adult student has an innate capacity to develop intellectually, physically, socially, and emotionally and will develop at different rates, utilizing different styles and in different environments.

LVA believes that education is the process by which this development occurs and must be individualized and interactive to meet the learner's needs. The LVA Basic Literacy (BL), English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) and Family Literacy programs are the vehicles for delivering this process, and literacy is its outgrowth.

LVA believes that to achieve the highest level of success, it is important to provide each adult student with a supportive environment for learning. For this reason, a partnership between the community and LVA is essential.